The Biological Oceanography & Plankton Ecology group led by
Dr. Jefferson Turner
is currently working on several projects involving plankton and water quality in coastal habitats, and toxic
microalgal blooms commonly known as “red tides.” These projects include long-term monitoring of plankton communities,
water quality, and environmental factors in Buzzards Bay, Boston Harbor, and Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays.

Since October 1987, researchers and students have conducted over 300 biweekly or monthly cruises monitoring environmental parameters in
Buzzards Bay in order to establish temporal and spatial trends of hydrography, water quality and plankton community structure. Parameters
include nutrient, chlorophyll, bacterioplankton, and water clarity data for all eight stations in the survey, as well as quantitative
taxonomic data for phytoplankton and zooplankton samples. We are also monitoring zooplankton communities in relation to the Boston Harbor
sewage outfall as part of a team managed by Battelle Memorial Institute, and funded by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA).

Studies of toxic phytoplankton are in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and other universities and government
agencies. These studies are part of the national program known as ECOHAB (ECology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms) funded by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ECOHAB work includes investigations of harmful algal blooms (an increase in
single-celled dinoflagellates that are toxic to marine life and humans). Our portion of the project is focused upon tracking mobility of
dinoflagellate toxins through various size fractions of the zooplankton, potentially reaching upper-level consumers such as fish and marine
mammals and birds, during spring/summer outbreaks of red tide in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. We are also collaborating with WHOI on
studies of zooplankton community grazing impact on red tides in Cape Cod salt ponds that are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).